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Nadirah Shabazz

Using the Autobiography of Malcolm X, this chapter examines the concept of Muslim American indigeneity and the emerging Muslim
American literature canon as responses to a history of ...
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Using the Autobiography of Malcolm X, this chapter examines the concept of Muslim American indigeneity and the emerging Muslim American literature canon as responses
to a history of contested belonging. I explore Malcolm X’s narrative as a critical commentary on American race relations and
what it means to be a Muslim from America, paying particular attention to Malcolm X’s engagement with and ultimate upending
of popular tropes of American inception and Muslim representation, namely the Plymouth Rock landing and the image of the Black
Muslim. Despite his embrace of “American type thinking”—a focus on public relations in controlling image—Malcolm X’s text
reinforces a binary between the diasporic and the national that helps shape our understanding of Islam in America today. Reading
Malcolm X’s work as a narrative of contested belonging and as a cultural investment in American “literary Muslimness” offers
new insight on current claims to indigeneity. ...

Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi

Abdolkarim Soroush founded one of the most important intellectual movements in Iran. This article traces the development of
his thought through three distinct periods: (1) a critique of ...
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Abdolkarim Soroush founded one of the most important intellectual movements in Iran. This article traces the development of
his thought through three distinct periods: (1) a critique of Marxism and its influence on Islamist political ideology, (2)
an epistemological critique of Islamist truth claims, and (3) a hermeneutical approach to the Divine text and Prophetic tradition.
...

Jan Thiele

This chapter discusses the notion of ‘states’ (aḥwāl) in Muʿtazilite and Ashʿarite theology. The concept was borrowed from
linguistics by the Muʿtazilite theologian Abū Hāshim al-Jubbāʾī ...
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This chapter discusses the notion of ‘states’ (aḥwāl) in Muʿtazilite and Ashʿarite theology. The concept was borrowed from linguistics by the Muʿtazilite theologian Abū Hāshim
al-Jubbāʾī (d. 321/933). It helped him to explain the nature of God’s attributes without asserting the existence of co-eternal
beings in God. The conception of attributes as ‘states’ became a central doctrine among Abū Hāshim’s followers, the so-called
Bahshamiyya school. The theory of aḥwāl was first rejected by Ashʿarite theologians. With Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī (d. 403/1013), however, an important representative
of the school eventually came to use the term within the framework of his theory of attributes. Later, Abu l-Maʿālī al-Juwaynī
(d. 478/1085–6) also followed al-Bāqillānī in adopting the notion of ḥāl. ...

Louis Komjathy

The chapter examines adherence and conversion in the Daoist religious tradition. In addition to discussing “conversion” as
a comparative category and as a cultural phenomenon in China, ...
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The chapter examines adherence and conversion in the Daoist religious tradition. In addition to discussing “conversion” as
a comparative category and as a cultural phenomenon in China, this study investigates Daoist views on the subject and the
ways in which Daoists have set parameters for religious affiliation. This is followed by an examination of domestic conversion,
by people of both Chinese (“Han”) ethnic identity and ethnic minorities, to Daoism in Chinese history. The final section presents
information on foreign conversion to Daoism. This includes brief discussions of Daoist conversion in Hong Kong, Korea, Japan,
and the modern West. Here the chapter suggests that Daoism has become a global cultural and religious phenomenon. Throughout
this chapter, specific attention is given to the ongoing process of voluntary conversion to Daoism as well as to the diverse
motivations of potential converts. ...

Richard Viladesau

A systematic consideration of the multiple relationships between aesthetics and religion demands a sorting-out of concepts
and issues. “Aesthetics” may be understood as practice (art) and ...
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A systematic consideration of the multiple relationships between aesthetics and religion demands a sorting-out of concepts
and issues. “Aesthetics” may be understood as practice (art) and as theory. It can refer to a number of overlapping subjects,
including art, symbol, feeling, beauty, taste, imagination, and perception. A theological or religious aesthetics considers
any of these topics in the light of God, revelation, and the sacred. The contemporary world has seen a renewal of interest
in religious aesthetics. Art has been increasingly recognized as an important theological “text” that complements the written
word, and as a crucial component of communication of the Christian message. The theological consideration of art and beauty
is made complex by the secularization of the contemporary world, which raises the question of the relation of aesthetics to
Christian “conversion.” ...

Frank Burch Brown

This chapter examines the significance of aesthetics and the arts to natural theology, first discussing ways that natural
theology can circumvent the evident religiosity of certain kinds ...
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This chapter examines the significance of aesthetics and the arts to natural theology, first discussing ways that natural
theology can circumvent the evident religiosity of certain kinds of art. It then situates scholarship in the arts and aesthetics
in relation to different approaches to natural theology, and concludes by considering a newly expanded understanding of natural
theology and its relation to alternative approaches to aesthetics and the arts. ...

Saeed Kahn

The narrative of Islam in America took a significant turn with the influx of a critical mass of Muslims migrating from the
Middle East and South Asia in the twentieth century. The ...
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The narrative of Islam in America took a significant turn with the influx of a critical mass of Muslims migrating from the
Middle East and South Asia in the twentieth century. The interaction between these immigrant Muslims and African American
Muslims has shaped the current landscape for American Islam through the development of new institutions and modes of engagement.
At the same time, however, the history of this interaction reveals the complexities that exist between multiethnic, multiracial
and multi-ideological groups on an intrafaith level. This chapter explores the relationship between African American and immigrant
Muslims over the past century. It will chart the engagement of individual immigrant Muslims, like Inayat Khan and Mohammad
Sadiq, as well as groups and organizations, including the Ahmadiyya, Federation of Islamic Association, the Hanafi Madhab
Center and the Muslim Students Association, with the African American Muslim community. ...

Sylvester Johnson

African American liberation theology emerged in the 1960s as a genuinely Christian discourse. Black theology arose in response
to divisive questions about the leadership of African ...
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African American liberation theology emerged in the 1960s as a genuinely Christian discourse. Black theology arose in response
to divisive questions about the leadership of African American churches in issues such as state violence, civil disobedience
and protest against formal apartheid, and extralegal terror. As a result, African American theology has been profoundly shaped
by the Christian tradition. This article examines how the Christian tradition influenced the identity, form, and content of
African American liberation theology. It first looks at civil rights and how African American liberation theology emerged
quintessentially as a struggle over the public meaning of Christianity. It then considers the emergence of the black church
and how African American Christians embraced Black Power. It also analyzes the impact of the Christian tradition on the experience
of African Americans before concluding with a discussion of womanist theology and the link between black women’s experience
and liberation theology. ...

Stephen C. Finley

The history of African Americans is important in the formation of, but presents a challenge to, black theology. African American
history provided a lens through which to view the world and ...
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The history of African Americans is important in the formation of, but presents a challenge to, black theology. African American
history provided a lens through which to view the world and Christian theology more generally. James H. Cone, the progenitor
of academic black theology, initiated the formal discourse of black theology and argued that the exigencies of the moment
required a theology of liberation that could speak to conditions currently facing African Americans. This essay examines the
ways in which African American history is used to construct and justify the existence of black theology and discusses some
of the conceptual problems arising from this use. It first considers history as a source and method of African American theology
and the role of African American history in womanist theology. It then analyzes the way William R. Jones and Eddie S. Glaude
Jr. challenge black theology’s use of African American history. ...

Edward E. Curtis IV

For nearly a century, African American Muslims have gathered for religious purposes in local voluntary religious associations
that, like other American religious congregations, are a basic ...
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For nearly a century, African American Muslims have gathered for religious purposes in local voluntary religious associations
that, like other American religious congregations, are a basic building block of U.S. society. Charting their long history,
this article surveys the growth of Sunni, Ahmadi, Moorish, and other congregations from World War I until the present. The
article argues that black-majority, black-dominant Muslim American congregations are affected by and respond to the same racial
divide that shapes American religion as a whole. ...

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